Paul Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth Whelan, would like to know why Brittney Griner’s wife received a phone call from both President Biden and Kamala on Wednesday but her family did not. It looks like the lesson she has to learn is that in order to secure the release of her brother from his detention in Russia the family has to get loud.

The Biden White House has not proven itself to be particularly successful in securing the release of Americans held against their will overseas. However, the White House and the State Department pay lip service to work on bringing the Americans back home. We’ve seen few positive results.

“Still looking for that press release saying @POTUS has spoken to anyone in OUR family about #PaulWhelan, wrongfully detained in #Russia for 3.5 years,” she wrote.

“I am crushed. If he wants to talk about securing Paul’s release, he needs to be talking to the Whelans! What are we to think?!” she added.

Cherelle Griner figured out what works with Team Biden. She quietly went about doing whatever she could to bring Brittney home after she was detained for possession of hashish oil in a vape cartridge. That happened in February. Brittney wrote a letter to Biden and poured it on – reminding him she voted for him and expects him to help her now. A group of 1200 Black women signed a letter to Biden demanding that Biden and Harris bring her home. Meanwhile, Brittney’s on trial in Moscow and Thursday entered a guilty plea. Brittney’s wife asks for a prisoner swap and maybe that will happen now. Officials in Moscow have been trying for years to get Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout released.

In April, former Marine Trevor Reed was released in a prisoner swap. That ended his three-year ordeal in Russia. Would it have happened if his family not become desperate enough to get him home that they got the attention of the press when Biden came to speak near their home in Texas? What about if they had not traveled to Washington and picketed outside the White House for the release of their son? They gave interviews to news stations and captured the attention of Americans across the country. Just as they had to do to get the attention of Joe Biden. He finally invited the Reeds to the White House and met with them. Not long after that, Travis was on his way home.

Pay attention, Whelan family. This is what you have to do with this White House. They will only move when they are forced into doing so. There is not an offensive plan in case of Americans being detained overseas, as is the only explanation for their lack of urgency on any of the cases. The Biden administration only acts on the defense. It’s no way to run a government. One good thing that Brittney did with her letter to Biden was to remind him not to forget Paul Whelan and other Americans detained.

Whelan’s twin brother, David, has some questions, too.

“I don’t begrudge Ms. Griner and her supporters their success in getting the president’s attention while he ignores so many other families,” Paul Whelan’s twin brother, David Whelan, said of Cherelle Griner’s interview, according to The Detroit News.

“It suggests the only way to get the White House’s attention, under President Trump or President Biden, is to have celebrity and wealth and resources that most wrongful detainees do not have,” he added.

David Whelan said the family will have to “wait and see,” adding that Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Paul Whelan’s case still remains a priority.

“At some level, we take that at face value,” he said. “Unfortunately, if it unfolds that Ms. Griner is released and Paul isn’t, again, we’ll be faced with the same question we were with the release of Trevor Reed: Is the White House only working on the cases when the president takes the time to call? And how do families explain that to their loved ones?”

Those are all legitimate questions that any family would pose to the White House.

On Thursday White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about the response from the Whelan family. As is her habit at the podium, she denied knowing anything. She had nothing to tell the reporters but insisted that the White House is in regular contact with the Whelan family.

“The president is getting regularly updated,” Jean-Pierre told reporters at a White House briefing. “This is top of mind.”

Jean-Pierre said she didn’t have a call between Biden and the Whelan family to “announce or to preview” but she described regular contact between the administration and the family.

Jean-Pierre said that White House staff joined Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens on a call with Elizabeth Whelan on Wednesday and said White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Carsten’s office and consular officials are also in contact with the family.

“We want to assure them and the Whelans and the Griner family and all other U.S. nationals who are being wrongfully detained or held hostage abroad that this president is doing everything he can to make sure that they come home safely,” Jean-Pierre said.

Who can feel confident that this White House is on top of anything? Joe Biden doesn’t know where he is most of the time and his cabinet secretaries often sound clueless when asked about specifics on policy or administrative actions. Does Kamala join in on calls to other hostage families or just to the Griner family? I addressed a racial element to Brittney’s case that seems to have surfaced, most specifically with the letter from the 1200 Black women. Brittney’s coach also dragged sexism into the topic, too. Rev. Al Sharpton will hold a press conference in Chicago on Friday afternoon with Cherelle Griner and WNBPA executives. The Griner family is keeping the pressure on now.

The families of others held overseas are also speaking up since Biden has a trip to the Middle East on the horizon. You would think that the administration would have been prepared for calls to action from families when he announced his trip to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, but this isn’t an administration that sees a step or two ahead of its agenda.

Americans whose relatives are detained in Saudi Arabia and Egypt called on President Biden to help secure their freedom as he prepares to meet the leaders of the two Middle Eastern countries during a trip to the region next week.

The appeal was made Wednesday on behalf of more than 30 men and women, including a journalist, rights activists and dissidents, some of whom were released but are barred from traveling abroad. A few have been on trial for years, and others have received harsh sentences over their public criticism of the authorities.

At least three are U.S. citizens, two are legal permanent residents and four are onetime U.S. student-visa holders. Most of the other detainees have at least one immediate relative with a direct connection to the U.S.

The families are trying to hold Biden accountable for campaign promises he made to them.

In their letter, the families said the hope that Mr. Biden’s campaign promises had offered them was fading as the administration pursues a diplomatic reset with traditional U.S. partners in the region, after Washington’s relationship with Riyadh hit its lowest point in decades.

“We worry that these warmer relations will only eclipse the plight of our loved ones, and we at least expect closer ties be utilized to insist on their release and our reunification,” they wrote.

The White House and the governments of Saudi Arabia and Egypt didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment.

Good luck to them. They’ll need it.